Mother's Day: What's the Best Beauty Lesson You've Learned From Your Mom?

The biggest beauty lesson my mom taught me, is that I’m beautiful. At the end of the day, nothing makes a woman more beautiful, then the belief that she is beautiful. And if anything, that’s what I hope to inspire with my blog.  Then there were some other useful beauty tricks!!

I remember as a little girl I was always fascinated watching my mom get ready to go out.
My mom used to style and straighten her hair without heat!! Way healthier for hair, she would let her hair air dry in a hairdo that was then very popular among Israeli women - Abuagela. Here’s how you do it: Divide freshly washed and combed hair into two even sections. Lift the left section and wrap it over your head, across the right section. Coil it around your head and secure it in several places with hairpins. Lift the right section and wrap it over your head in the other direction, securing it in several places with pins. When your hair is completely dry, remove the pins and voila -  brush your hair straight.

My mom has been using Cover Girl Lipsticks Lipgloss in Daring for years, bringing a stash to Israel every visit to America. It’s a very sheer moisture rich lipstick that adds just a hint of red tint. She uses it on it’s own or under a red lipstick to soften lips first so lipstick goes on smoothly after.

Your turn! In celebration of Mother's Day, what's the best beauty lesson your own leading lady has taught you over the years??

Happy Mother’s day,
I love you Ema!!

These Beauty Essentials are a Force of Nature

In Honor of Earth Day, Here are My Top Eco-Friendly Beauty Essentials

 

Some products can leave harmful residue during disposal into the sewer, then circulated into our eco system. For example, microbead in some scrubs are coming from particles of plastic that rinse down the drain and eventually show up in lakes and oceans. In addition to polluting the water, microbeads can accumulate other toxic chemicals such as PCBs, be eaten by fish and wind up in the food supply, according to the Attorney General's office. If you aren’t sure if your scrub contains the offenders, check the ingredients list for 'Polyethylene'. From my experience you are better off anyways, as they tend to be too harsh. The gritty beads can break the skin and spread bacteria, causing breakouts.

Here are my favorite beauty products with sustainably harvested ingredients, and eco-friendly packaging:

Tarte - Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush
It's a long-wearing blush that really lasts up to 12 hours!! The fade-free flawless finish is due to natural clay, harvested from the banks of the Amazon River. The Amazon River flows for 4,000 miles and as it flows it collects highly nutrias plant and fruit matter.  A lot of brands market their blushes as long lasting, but with this one I really found it to be the case, and the color payoff is fantastic!!

Tarte - Smooth Operator™ Amazonian Clay Finishing Powder
This translucent, silky finishing powder keeps makeup in place without ever appearing chalky and mattifies skin by removing excess surface oil.
Aside from the Amazonian clay, It contains a special clay called Kaolinite, which can absorb 75 percent of its weight in sebum as it hydrates the skin, leaving a long-lasting matte finish that won’t make breakouts worse. Perfect for oily skin like mine!!
Another impressive ingredient is - Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), a phospholipid derivative with the ability to stimulate cell proliferation. It visibly reduces pores thanks to a stimulating cell differentiation, promoting the tightening of skin, effectively shrinking oversized pores.
This powder really makes my pores less noticeable. I can count on it when I go to on camera auditions and don't want my skin to be oily and shiny in an unfaltering way. 


 
Josie Maran - Argan Oil Hair Serum
If you've read this post, by now you are aware of my obsession with hair serums, and this one shines in my endless stash, delivering instant and long lasting shine.
A recent study has shown that only some oils will actually penetrate the hair. Mineral oil and sunflower oil for example, will not penetrate. But Argan oil will filter deep into the cortex because it is so similar to hair's natural lipids. Straight chain glycerides will easily penetrate, while polyunsaturated oils, like jojoba oil, are more open in their structure so they don't pass through the layers of cuticles very well.  When I use it, my hair looks and feels healthier, silkier, and extraordinarily shiny. Biosilk serum is my top pick, but if it's a more curly look I am going for this adds shine and smoothness, yet curls hold well with it.

Juice Beauty Green Apple Peel Sensitive
I mentioned this gem when I wrote about my favorite peels (you can read the post here). Since then, this has become my #1 favorite peel!! This peel toned them down my acne scars completely.  I use it two ways--as a mask and also as a spot treatment on any zits on my face, which will tremendously reduce them. A combination of acids tends to be more potent at melting away dead layers of skin and this is formulated with: malic acid from organic apple juice, citric acid from lemons, tartaric acid from white grapes, glycolic acid from raw cane sugar & lactic acid from organic milk.

Happy Earth Day,

My Silky Hair Concoction (Literally!!)

I'm a girl who loves her hair serums. They keep my hair healthy, despite the harshness of highlights and frequent abuse of heat styling for work on set.

Because of my involvement in the cosmetic filed, I can get a stash of free hair serums from different companies, but I would never replace this little recipe that completely transformed my hair. It has the ability to change my hair texture from damaged and frizzy to soft and silky, without being oily, only shiny. And the scent is dreamy!!

 

Sometimes the Whole is Greater than the Sum of its Parts 

Biosilk soften like no other,  while So Sexy kicks all other shine serums I've tried to the curb, but together - together they are completely unmatched!!

Biosilk, Silk Therapy Hair Serum is made with Ethyl Ester of Hydrolyzed Silk; an esterified version of small units of silk proteins (from silk worm cocoons). Regular esters are amphoteric - they can be positive or negative in products - whereas these esters are always positive, or cationic, which means they have a high affinity to our negatively charged hair. Thus, Ethyl Ester of Hydrolyzed Silk form a film on the hair, which have a sealing effect; filling in cracks in the hair shaft, binding in moisture, and making the shaft feel smooth. They replenishes, reconstructs, repair, smooth, and protect hair, making it TRULY silky soft.

Victoria Secret's So Sexy Smoothing Hair Serum is a thin silicone oil hair serum. It's consistency is runnier than other products of this type, which is great because it translates to feeling light in the hair adding glossy shine whiteout being oily. It gives my hair a great sheen as it provides leave-in moisture.

I mix small amounts of both of in my palms and apply on wet hair, let it air dry, and then apply more before working using hot tools to style. The result is satiny strands with a deep glossy shine that somehow manage to make my fried hair feel really healthy.

And the scent …oh so very sexy!!

The pair blend into a vibrant and sensuous aroma, like a perfume for my hair and the smallest breeze or shift of my hair makes its presence known. It is fresh and sweet at the same time. Clean, yet sensual and alluring.

Biosilk, Silk Therapy Hair Serum is like a high end musk, yet refreshing, light, clean and powdery. Victoria Secret's So Sexy is like florals swimming in a bath of cucumber musk water. It's a mixture of light white musk, fresh peony, crisp cucumber and a hint of freesia.

Together it's a blend of floral, musky, ozonic, aquatic and green accords, that smell like sex on hot summer days, sex in the shower. Clean and very fresh aquatic floral, yet sophisticated and sweet.

Wishing you a fabulous hair day,